Ask Correia – These are big posts that I’ve done when somebody has had a How To writing question. These started kind of small, and then went completely nuts. Sometimes the discussion in the comments is way smarter than anything I said.

Politics, Fisking, and Idiot Trolls

I can get a little political at times, and I’ve really ticked off a lot of people. These are some of my personal favorite rants. Fisking stupid people is one of my hobbies. I have a 3rd degree black belt in Fisk. Can’t help myself.

On the evening of the full moon when Earl and Julie visit Owen at his apartment in Dallas, Earl obviously had to leave before he werewolfed out, but where did he have time to go so he wouldn’t eat anyone?

Thanks, I appreciate your answer. I bought the rtf E-ARCS for MHV and Hard Magic from Baen as well as another e-book copy of MHI. I have copies of all three in my phone. I spend sixteen plus hours a week in dialysis so it helps to have good books to pass the time. Each station has DirecTV basic, but repeats of “Charmed” & “Buffy” don’t do much for me. “Supernatural” repeats are a little better, but I’ve seen them all. You mentioned the E-ARC of MHA is coming up. I’m really looking forward to it. I’d also love to see more Tom Stranger segments. They’re great fun. I’m in the middle of “I Am Not A Serial Killer” and will pick up the other two in a few days. Thanks for pointing them out.

Hi Larry, My housemates and I absolutely love MHI books. I mean love them. Any way i’m a photographer and my roommate is a prop weapon modder his nerf guns are evil looking anyway. We were looking into airsoft weapons so that we can make MHI props I really want to make the abomination.
One of the things I like about your two main Z and Jake the characters are big men. I’m a big guy ex-military and I’m so tired of the wiry characters big men hit hard and not just the kung fu fodder. 🙂
We are also working on some concepts on making prop MHI body armor.

We want to do our own portrait me the big guy as Z and my housemate as Earl we’ll see how it goes.
One thing I have MHI on audible
If I remember the abomination it is a Saiga 12 Full auto shotgun with light and 40 mm grenade launcher with a side flip silver knife.
When it flips is the blade vertical or horizontal? We we’re thinking vertical because horizontal would take up to much room are we right on that? if it is horizontal what is the height of the blade.

Thank you Larry,
I get it now we were thinking it was directly under the barrel so it would be just off center of the barrel.
Thank you for the reply we are ordering alpha later today. When we get the mod done we’ll share 🙂

Thank you Larry just got the MHA in the mail. I really need a good read. Up to my eyeballs in work on my home and business development barely any time to go to the range. Thanks. I think the patch will go on my shooting jacket.

oohhh Franks story now that sounds interesting. Larry if I order a autographed book from you can I specify which one. I would like to get an autographed copy of the first and 2nd MHI book I just got MHA in the mail and my patches 😉

Mr. Correia, being one who enjoys both SF on many varieties (I would locate the Monster Hunters at the borderline between Science Fiction and Magical Fantasy.), and guns (Hey, pistol practice is the best fun a man can have whilst standing up and with one’s trousers on.), I wish to thank you for the Monster Hunter series. I will admit that one aspect of the world of your series made me angry, and that is the background of suppression of the “truth” (in the world of the series) by aggressive action of the government. Is that a stand-in for the attitudes of the governments of the world toward UFOs?

Too, given that I cheerfully acknowledge you know more about this, I ask you whether it is in fact true that the full-house 10mm will beat the handgun which fires it, to death? I had heard this from many people before I retired, because I had put together on paper a “dream gun,” and had started enquiries toward accumulating the parts for it; but the plans attracted critics around the same time my cash stash disappeared in the maw of a hospitalization insurance shortfall. During most of my working life, I carried a .38″ Special revolver.

Mr. Correia,
I absolutely LOVE your MHI books. i found them when Vendetta came out, and have thoroughly enjoyed the series, especially this last twist by producing a Harbinger based book. I look forward to you producing a lot more for this series. And i hope you will continue to find powerful inspiration to keep going.

P.S.- i’ve always wanted a book containing extensive gun battles AND high levels of detail. Thank You so much.

I’m almost done reading MHI and I love it. I have a couple of comments. When they came to Corinth to visit the Elf Queen, why didn’t they fly to Tupelo where they have rental car companies at the airport? Booneville’s airport is little more than a paved airstrip out in the country. Boonevegas doesn’t have any car rental places.:) It’s also dry, you can’t buy beer at the Piggly Wiggly. (There may be a few good ole boys that can hook you up, though.) You can buy beer at Walmart in Corinth.
I’ve been to Burnsville and Iuka, which are both east of Corinth on 72, I can believe that trailer trash elves live there. There’s also a “gravity hill” over there, but the first place I thought of when they were headed for a mystical place north of Tupelo, was Witch Dance off the Natchez Trace.

I give you a hard time, but I’m proud that someone wrote something about my area that didn’t involve Elvis. John Ringo wrote Princess of Wands, that character was from Tupelo and lived in Ridgeland, near Jackson. Ringo made a few mistakes about Tupelo, too, so you’re in good company. 🙂

Thanks, I now have MHA in my phone, too. I’ve been in the hospital three month as of 12/16. I finally got web access a couple of days ago, so I haven’t had a chance to download D6 and Spellbound yet. I hope to get them by Friday. I’m looking forward to MHL so keep up the good work. Have yourself a wonderful Christmas and the twelve days that follow.

As a self-proclaimed monster and myth specialist (AKA an unemployed English major), I must say that I absolutely ADORE your books! You put so much knowledge and research into your novels, not to mention love, so how can I not love them back?

Hi Mr Correia, thank you for the really wonderful books. I love both the Hard Magic and the MHI series and look forward to more books. I’m from Malaysia and hope that you will be able to incorporate some of the many myths and legends from Asia (and not only from China and Japan). I’m looking forward to the next book from you.

Mr Correia, that would be awesome to see monsters from South East Asia. The Malays have some really scary monsters like the Penanggalan. The Thais, Indonesians and Filipinos have variations of the same monster. Looking forward to see some of these south east Asian monsters 🙂

Are the rumors of a zombie attack at the Democratic National Convention true? I was giggling to myself about what a bunch of zombies our representative government had turned itself into. Out of the blue I wondered how your might write it….

Mr. Correia, I’m not on board with your politics, and I never developed the romantic attachment to firearms that you have, but I’m thinking we both spent too many of our juvenile hours watching monster movies on late night tv. I’m looking forward to the new book. Thanks for bringing the old-time scary things back, and for keeping monsters monstrous, and your heroes heroic. I’ve also enjoyed your Grimnoir series, super-people in an alternate history, what’s not to like? Great action sequences in both series. Question: why set the latter series in the 1930s? Any particular reason?

Thanks. I’ve got no problem with anyone who disagrees with me. I love to discuss politics with rational folks. I save my rants and fisking for the willfully obnoxious. 🙂

Grimnoir is set in the ’30s because I’ve always been fascinated by the time period. Then one day I was brainstorming an epic fantasy series with Mike Kupari and my son was reading an issue of Noir Spiderman.

Thanks for your reply. I also enjoy a sane, logical debate with people who disagree with me. I find it much more fun than preaching to the choir. Keeps me sharp, too. We all necessarily operate on the assumption that we are right, but, as Ben Franklin once said, every now and again we should entertain the humbling thought that we might be wrong. Again, looking forward to the next book, I’ve already pre-ordered it.

I purchased the Monster Hunter series on Audible, and i listen to them while i paint- i must have listened to them 10 times each! Great work, very inspiring stuff- I’m actually going to be tattooing a lusca on one of my buddies tomorrow and were both super excited about it 🙂

Love your monster hunter books, and since your doing an RPG, here are some other series in the same genre that have RPGs. The Bureau 13 series came out as a RPG in 1983 and several great books by Nick Pollotta (I love in one book where they kill the aircraft carrier the enemy wizard animated by teleporting into the engine room and pumping 10 gallons of concentrated poison into the fuel system!). The original may be hard to find but a D20 reprint came out in 2008. Another one is a set of low budget films Demon Hunters & Demon Hunters: Dead Camper Lake by Dead Gentlemen Productions has its own RPG by Margeret Weis Productions that came out recently (Has a great introduction DVD included), and you can find it on sale at Paizo.com

In your MHI books you mention that religious items work on vampires depending on faith and type, an idea I’ve seen before and which makes sense. My question is two fold, since so many workship the stuff, could a congressman hold off a vampire with money and how large a bill would it have to be? I expect it would at least be a 50 if not a 100. The things that pop into a mind when trying to get through 8 hours at work.

Hello Larry, you are my favorite author writing at this time, in truth no one comes even close…I am currently reading Hard Magic and loving every second of it, I have to say that I was shocked that the artist who drew the pale horse “Harkeness” misspelled his name, this occurs on page 155, I almost fell out of my LazyBoy and that’s hard to do! I sincerely hope that you are never failed in this manner again…

First of all, love everything I have read from you so far. I can’t wait for more and more and more!!!!! Do have a bit of a bone to pick with you though. One would think that since your two mains are big huge dudes then you would be offering more clothes for big huge dudes. There are some shirts that come in 5xl but not many and none of the real awesome ones. How can I get some of the MHI stuff in gigantor size? And another thing, somebody really needs to proof Bronson Pinchot’s reading on the audible version. It really grates on my nerves to hear him say bar instead of B.A.R. and 30-oh 6 instead of 30-ought six. Other than that, he has done a wonderful job voicing your characters.

Hi! New to this site (a couple of posts elsewhere), but I want to throw in my own thanks for the fun of the MHI series; especially since I’m a Birmingham, AL resident. Having such fun located in my neck of the woods is a hoot, even though you had to ‘modify’ certain names like Desoto Caverns just south of here! Looking forward to more books, both MHI and Grimnoir!

Hi Larry,
I stumbled upon the MHI audible edition by accident – best accident I have ever had! Terrific book that I couldn’t stop listening to. Not to mention, it led me here for some refreshing commentary. I have thoroughly enjoyed both and look forward to more.
Thanks and keep ’em coming!
Sam

Larry, I just want to thank you for a couple of very entertaining series. Both my husband and I listen to MHI and the Grimnoir Chronicle series from audible.com, and we try to listen at the same rate so to discuss the books, and so as not to give up spoilers to each other. My husband is a gun-nut, and I know nothing about them, so many of our conversations while listening to MHI deal with him explaining weaponry in detail to me. You are one of the rare writers that can’t put books out fast enough for our needs and desires. You are greatly appreciated!

Awesome blog & books! Here is a blog you’d like, conservative and worth the read. http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/
Aside from that, I’d like to see a short story where Owen can’t sleep because he feels guilty about Loco, so he goes to the trailer park elf queen to get access to the alp world for a rescue. Could take Ed along too…

A few months ago I got monster hunter international for my birthday and I just finished reading Monster Hunter Legion, the monster hunter series is honestly one of the only book series I’ve ever read all the way through. Unlike most books I read these ones kept me very entertained with all the action and monster fight scenes and it wasn’t a drag to read. While I was reading it was hard for me to stop because of how mindblowingly awesome every page was. The characters were all so developed and interesting and the main character was really relateable. I was amazed with the gun detail and wasnt expecting that vivid detail out of a monster book. I think these books were all 5/5 stars. I am really loking forward ro the 5th book and will definitely pre order it if possible.

Hi Larry my wife and I met you at Uncle Hugos in Minnesota….my tattoo is on your website. Very cool! Just wondering when your going to give people the opportunity to get their name in one of your books. Im all in brother!
Take care,
Clint
ps im getting the mission statement tattooed under the logo

I picked up Monster Hunter: Nemesis after generally not being as thrilled with MH as the Grimnoir Chronicles. I hope Mr Corrirra returns to that world someday, although it was wrapped up so perfectly, that its probably best left the way it is. MH has a bug for me. That “mission” of keeping muggles in the dark about spooky things. Its wrong, somehow. It really wouldn’t matter if more people knowing would”blur the lines”, and make it easier for supernatural critters to enter or what not. You could never ever have a good enough reason to keep knowledge in the hands of the elite few. That thinking is icky.
Besides, most people would be happy to find out they were going to go to Hell when they died. Its a lot better then what most of us believe deep down; That there is nothing beyond the physical. We all fear we are not going to Hell or Heaven or anywhere. Just to not existing. So no matter how scary a monster, its a lot scarier then the knowledge that there are no monsters…which also means there are no supernatural possibilities of any kind, including religion. Maybe thats too picky. Its not meant to be a serious theological work, obviously. Still, the way the Grimnoir novels dealt with pedestrian knowledge worked much better for me. Nemesis is a nice book. Franks is very funny, and a great character. Looking forward to the other things Mr Corrierra may write outside MH also.

Come to think of it…The Bible tells us that there are such things as demons and Leviathan is described in it. So if the knowledge that demons really exist is a bad thing for humanity, as it blurs these lines, and anglels hire Franks to make sure that doesn’t happen….then how come that information is in the Bible? See? Doesn’t that snag a bit? I know I’m overthinking it. But thoughts like that crop up as one reads…..

The Deal (with God) wasn’t to keep monsters secret. It was to chase them from Earth. The Contract (with Ben Franklin) was to work for the proto-MCB. I’ve never specified if the government’s First Reason is correct or not. The MCB thinks it is. Many think they’re wrong.

So, what do you think? Is it wrong? Now I haven’t read MH in a very long time. I remember liking it, but sadly I think I read Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula Files at an impressionable age, so I never could think of vampires as evil ever again. But this makes it sound so interesting, I think I must pick them back up!

I just wanted to say I have bought all you books and love them. Thanks for the great stories and hope to read more in the future. Although I was wondering if you had read any works by Michael Clary author of the Guardian Interviews series? I enjoyed them and highly recommend them to anyone who likes the Monster Hunter series.

Just reading thru the multiple comments related to your post on rape culture and what not. I’ll admit to enjoying the discourse even though it’s limited to 140 characters. Really makes one succinct.

I really enjoyed the Grimnoir series and I’m working through Book four of MHI now. Good stuff! Glad I discovered your work.

Went to the range yesterday for the first time thanks to a Christmas gift from my wife. My friends said I did well for my first time shooting. Admittedly, I’m finding much to research while reading your novels with regards to handguns. Fascinating what’s available and in limitless combinations.

As a teacher our lockdown drills constantly hover at the surface and we live in soft lockdown mode (doors always locked). I’m not fond of the environment like this, but it seems that the local mindset requires strictures these days. Fortunately, the kids don’t seem to notice and are more concerned about hair style, shoes, the opposite sex, and, occasionally, academic pursuits.

So, please keep up the good work. I’m looking forward to reading more and hopefully meeting you at a con in the future.

Started listen to your books while working about a month or two ago. I found your books after I worked my way through all of the warmachine/hordes books, and into the storm was so so good. Besides that I have So far made it through the grimnoir books and 4 of the monster hunter books. And the MH books as the best shit ever. You just seem to hit everything I like.
So I just wanted to thank you and I hope you continue writing for at least 40 more years.

Sorry for any grammatical errors. Was a while since I wrote something in English that was longer than one sentence.
Hope to see the next MH book soon.

Stricken.
I am at page 335 of Nemesis.
If Stricken is not down by th end of book 6 begging Franks to kill him, utterly destroyed and broken body and soul beyond recognition I am going to burn the damn books. He will NOT get of evil guy stile with “Bang, headshot, dead” I want Stricken to suffer so much that even the deamons of hell will flinch in terror.

Otherwise great series and totaly worth the money and all. Thank you for that.

Hi Larry. Thanks so much for such a fun read. Have screamed through first 4 MHI books in less than 2 months and just loving this world. Any news on a MHI movie/TV show? Be worth it just to see it open with Owen tossing a werewolf out a window. Thanks again.

I was introduced to your MHI books while going to college in Alaska after my military and eggs scrambling divorce, I was/am trying to start over. I simply love the whole idea and story. Extremely fun and over the top, butch macho for the tough guy in all of us boys/men out there in America.
With all of that said, I have a suggestions for you to check out as an idea “If you so choose too.” In Colorado here is a man nicknamed “The Dragonman (“https://www.dragonmans.com/content/military_museum_dragonmans_colorado_springs). He is ex-military (Nam), has lic. to handle any and all weapons and helps the police because of the land, field, armory he has for them to play and test what they need to for defense purposes. There is also a Dragon castel in Pueblo, Colorado (http://www.bishopcastle.org/) The look alone is fantastic.

I love to write myself and in reading your books and thinking of the places and things I have seen, I could not help but to see these two as a base for a character in your story somewhere. (Of course, I am presuming that you do not know about these two.) Please forgive me if you do. I am trying to help you if I can in some small way.

Mr. Correia.
I think you need to post the fact that
“There are 4 more MHI book coming out in the next two years”
on the top of your web page in very bold letters for the blind to see.
That seems a VERY recurring theme on this site.

Greeting gents. Big fan of Larry’s works(especially MHI and Dead Six) but first time poster on here. I was wondering what the policy for posting links to stories that you or a friend are working on. I would like to get some feedback on a story that I’ve been writing and posting online but I’m not sure if posting links here would be viewed as “advertising” and be considered bad etiquette. If it is discouraged here, any places any of you could recommend where I can post links to the chapters I’ve been writing and get some constructive criticism?

No problem. The blog comments probably aren’t the best place though, because they are related to some different topic and sink down the page fast. The Monster Hunter Nation facebook page is probably better for that sort of thing. If it is asking for critiques no problem, even posting about your stuff once in a while is fine. Just don’t spam them. 🙂

I see you have 4 more books coming in the MHI series & was wondering if one of them will finish the Grunge/Sinners storyline?
Was also thinking there needed to be another Hard Magic maybe dealing with South America & Central Africa which at that time were essentially unexplored & an excellent breeding ground for growing Pathfinders into new Predators. Both great series, had to buy new books when I wore the originals out. Thanks!

There’s one thing I dislike about your writing that appears regularly (including several of your best of blog posts, but I can recall at least one instance in your published work): The misuse of “factoid”. It’s not a fancy word for fact.

On a more happy note, had a meeting with my Congressman (Ron DeSantis FL-6) about NFA repeal* last month and he seemed receptive (one thing he really seemed to approve of was pointing out that being unable to pass it was Hillary’s excuse for non-action on tax reform), ending with that he can’t make any promises but he’d like to see the judiciary do something about guns (Also got it as one of the “memos” on bill proposal for Sen. Rubio via phone meeting with senior staff, but I doubt that will go very far). Any ideas or suggestions where to go from here for someone that wants to own a copy of Abomination someday?

*Outline I sent him (which he liked getting before the meeting) didn’t include anything about destructive devices that weren’t because of bore diameter and weren’t less lethal agents, and, to avoid spliting HPA support, silencers. Otherwise calls for killing everything NFA AND the ITAR registration tax.

Hi Mr. Correia, I have listened and re-listened to all of your books. I love the Z and Franks storyline in the MHI books. Franks bad assness is awesome! Loved the malcontents (sad you killed madigan). Dead six I can take or leave. Son of black sword another favorite but when is the sequel coming out? Occasionally, I have seen a reference to you working on a sequel but alas, so far only MHI books. Also, when will there be another Grimnoir book series? All of your books are brilliantly written but I would like to see more of your lesser known series’ characters make another appearance in your line up of hits. Thank you.

Hi Larry. You’ve got to be the most approachable author on the market today. Mark Dawson is close, but you take the cake. I’ve looked on the page here and on posts in the FB MHI Unite page, but have yet to find anything like a “My Favorite Guns” post from you. I imagine you shoot freakin’ everything, but would love to know what the LC loadout looks like. Your books are at the top of my recommend list, mate. Can’t wait to read (or listen to) the next ones.

I’m laughing at myself right now. Just purchased Seige and I wanted to take a look at the last couple of chapters of Nemesis to warm up to the storyline. So I pulled down Nemesis from my shelf, started to read, but Chad is smack dab in the middle of the storyline. What the heck? Sure enough the front of the book is Grunge, but the spine says Nemesis. Hilarious! I thought I bought Nemesis, but got Grunge. So are books like money, in that if they have a misprint they are automatically more valuable? It’d be sweet! Love the books! And Ringo adds good meat.

I’m a bit sad that the Monster Hunter Memoir series has ended. I really liked Chad. I did find some hope in the last sentence in Saints however. “[SPOILER REDACTED- Jack].” I hope that means that sometime in the near future there might be a book about her. As I said before, I like stories about badass women.

First would like to say thank you for awesome series (MHI). Just found it on amazon and finished the whole series in under a week.

I am also a gunnutt , albeit I live in Canada . What are your thoughts on some of the new Turkish Ar15 based shotguns (dayria, mk1919,axor) and will they make it to your arsenal for MHI . (.308 mag pouches work great for holding their mags).
That again for great series !!!

I saw that episode of “Shooting Gallery” where you did the long range rifle training. They flashed pictures of your book covers and then they flashed a cover that said, “Monster Hunter Employee Handbook and Roll Playing Guide.” What’s that?

Found out about you and your books via The Tom Woods Show. So glad I decided to give your MHI book series a chance. I’m loving them.

As a libertarian, a firearms aficionado, and a lover of sci fi/fantasy stuff, I’ve found the stories both engaging and entertaining. I appreciate the efforts made regarding firearm accuracy, and I’ll admit I’ve had to look up a few of the more obscure models and references.

I was already a big fan of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files. I’ve come to love your Monster Hunter International series just as much. I’ll be branching out to your other works soon. Keep up the solid work on all fronts.

Larry! Huge fan of the Monster Hunter books. I have audible on my phone and I listen to them over and over again while I’m at work. I enjoy them as much the 42nd time as I did the first time. I have all of the ones available from audible and just started on Vendetta again. I really want to live in the Monster Hunter world. I even have a friend that is going to school to become a cpa and informed him that if he has a monster encounter and gets recruited he has to get me in too. 😁 Thanks you for what you do!

I admit to getting a bit tongue tied in your presence when trying to plug my buddy’s book, Salvation Day by Russ Meyer (nom de plume, RD Meyer, since there’s also a Russ Meyer who has a series of sexploitation films…guess I can understand why he’d want to differentiate). Been kicking myself for my ineloquence ever since, and figured I’d try to leave a note for you here.

That said, I’ll try to be more articulate today by retooling my Amazon review of his book.

I met Russ last summer at work, and in getting to know each other discovered a love for many of the same authors, including you. In the course of our chatting, he mentioned he’d written a couple of books, and intrigued, I purchased this one. My comments below are unsolicited and fully my own based on a cover to cover reading (or at least the Kindle equivalent).

Truly a 5 star book. This is one of the most unique books I’ve read in a while, and once into it, I couldn’t put it down. Fortunately, I had some traveling to do, and thus had the time to consume it in uninterrupted page after incredible page.

Russ has a keen eye for detail, and developed a main character for whom you simultaneously root for and against. For, in that I could put myself in his shoes, and against, as what he set out to do was incredibly naughty. Though I sort of want to, I hesitate to use the word “evil,” as the manner in which Meyer sets the story line, it is easy to see the main character’s POV and how his actions could even be justified.

The detail was at times disturbing, but always germane to the story vice gratuitous; it was difficult to get through some passages. But, well worth it. As a Catholic Christian, I had to put aside some knee jerk reactions to the way certain events went against personal beliefs, but the story was so riveting that I plugged on through. And, it is fiction after all.

The story arc of man facing incredible tragedy, to triumphs used in the name of evil, to ultimate redemption was classic. However, it is completely different than any other story I’ve read. If I had to make a comparison, it was a bit like Dante’s Inferno meets Monster Hunters International (told from the baddies side) with the technology of Ghostbusters (but not the jokes). Absolutely fantastic.

I know you’re a pretty busy fellow, but I hope you can find time to take a look at Salvation Day. Russ has a few others out there, but this was the one he considers his best work and the one he specifically recommended to me. And again, thanks for coming to Kansas City. It was truly an honor to meet you!

Please keep up the outstanding work. I have read a good portion of your works and I love all of them. Saga of the Forgotten Warrior quickly became my favorite of your series. It is my all time second favorite series ever! (only behind Lord of the Rings). I haven’t fallen in love with a series in a long time and SOTFW made me really (REALLY) fall in love with your works. I have already read ‘House of Assassins’ 6 times since it came out 3 months ago. I am so excited for book 3! I can’t wait. You do amazing work!!! I NEED to see what happens to Ashok next! I haven’t felt like this about a series in quite a long time. Well done sir!!

Hi Larry
I only want to thx u for the great work u did with the MHI universe for us!! My question is when can we see HMI the movie in cinemas around the world? This fantastic story must be filmed pls!! I’m looking forward to here more from you!!
Best of luck
Daniel G.
Germany

Are you going to write more Bubba Shackleford stories??? I’ve listened to all of your MHI books on audible and read all the stories that aren’t and I really enjoyed the Bubba Shackleford story! I would love to have a longer one on audible!